The Travel Race
by The Queen of Valencia Torgue
Summary: Percy, Thalia, and Nico have a race to see whose method of travel is the fastest. One shot.


**Hi peoples! This is my first fanfic for Percy Jackson, please read it and tell me what you think. This story takes place sometime after last Olympian. Oh, and I do not own Percy Jackson in any way, shape, or form. Enjoy!**

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><p>It was a fairly normal day at camp Half-Blood. The rock wall was rumbling, people were canoeing in the lake, the Stoll brothers were tossing rocks at the Ares cabin. Typical, everyday stuff. However, no one knew that the peace was about to be shattered.<p>

It started out as a friendly picnic. Thalia had been in the area doing something for Artemis, and had decided to drop by the camp for a visit. Because her friends didn't get to see her that often, they decided to have a picnic, you know, to catch up on things. So there the four of them were; Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia, eating, joking, and just enjoying getting a chance to see each other.

Somehow, although they were never quite sure how afterward, the conversation got around to different ways of travel.

"Shadow traveling is the best," Nico insisted. "It feels like you're on a roller coaster. I bet neither of _you_ (that was directed at Percy and Thalia) get that kind of experience."

Thalia frowned. "Not everyone likes roller coasters, Nico. Personally, I think cloud travel is the only way to go. It's so smooth, you can hardly tell that you're moving. I don't think any other kind of travel can beat that.

Percy coughed. "Sorry to disagree with you guys, but water travel is obviously the better option. It's very efficient and eco-friendly (here Nico rolled his eyes) and besides, it's way faster then shadow or cloud travel."

"Hey! Is not!" Nico shouted at the same time that Thalia yelled: "No way! Cloud travel is definitely the fastest!"

The three cousins started bickering loudly.

Annabeth just sat there watching them. After about ten minutes, she decided enough was enough. "GUYS!" she hollered at the top of her lungs.

All three children of the big three turned to face her.

"Yes, Annabeth? Percy asked her, sheepishly.

"You guys are crazy! If you really feel the need to know which is the fastest, then have a race! Don't just stand here and argue about it."

The three cousins looked at each other.

"She does have a point." Nico admitted.

"It's settled then. We will have a race to see which method of travel is the fastest." Thalia said.

The other two demi-gods agreed, and they decided that they would race the next morning.

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><p>The three of them (plus Annabeth) met with Chiron on the porch of the big house the next morning after breakfast. It had been decided that they would be racing to Percy's Mom's apartment. They had Iris-messaged her the night before, to make sure she was okay with it and to see if she would judge the contest.<p>

Annabeth lined them up on the porch. "Okay guys, when Chiron says go—"

"Why does it have to be 'go'?" Nico interrupted. "Why can't it be 'baloney' or 'peanut butter' or 'Nico is awesome' or something like that?"

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" he asked, innocently.

Annabeth just shook her head. "'Baloney' is gross, 'Nico is awesome' is too long, but I guess we can use 'peanut butter', if you insist."

"I do." Nico grinned.

Percy smiled. "Peanut butter makes a good war cry."

Thalia looked at him funny.

"What?" he said. "It does.

Thalia just shook her head and muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like 'crazy fish boy'.

Chiron stomped a hoof. "Are you all ready? I don't have all day."

"Someone's crabby." Percy muttered under his breath but he nodded along with his cousins.

"On your mark…" Chiron said. "Get set… Peanut Butter!"

Nico ran towards the wall which was partially covered in shadow, Thalia stepped forward into the sunlight and raised an arm towards the sky, and Percy started melting into a puddle just like the wicked witch of the west.

In a moment, Nico had disappeared, a cloud had appeared around Thalia and floated her quickly away, and the puddle that was Percy had vanished.

Annabeth pulled out her cell phone.

"What are you doing? Chiron asked her.

"Calling Percy's mom. She's about to have company."

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><p>Sally was in the kitchen putting a batch of blue chocolate-chip cookies into the oven, when all of a sudden the phone rang. She closed the oven door and set the timer, then picked up the phone. "Hello?"<p>

"Hi Sally, this is Annabeth."

"Annabeth! How are you, dear?"

"Fine, thank you. I'm just calling to tell you that Percy, Thalia, and Nico have just left camp. They should be there any minute."

"Oh, thanks for the warning. Would you like me to call you back with the results?" Sally asked.

"Yes please." Annabeth replied.

"Alright then. I'll call you back in a few minutes."

"Bye!"

Sally hung up the phone. She wandered into the living room and sat down on the couch to wait. One minute passed, followed by another. Then, all of a sudden, Nico materialized out of the shadows in the corner, a cloud appeared on the balcony outside and deposited Thalia, and a wet spot appeared on the carpet and bubbled up into the shape of her son.

For a minute, all three demi-gods just stood there trying to catch their breath.

Finally Nico asked "Who-who won?"

They all looked at Sally, who held up her hands. "Guys…I think it was a tie. You all arrived at the exact same time."

For a moment, no one spoke.

Finally, Thalia broke the silence. "I guess we kind of screwed up."

The other two shuffled their feet.

Then Percy shrugged. "Oh, well. All's well that end's well."

"Yeah…" Nico agreed. "Oh man! I just thought of something!"

"What?" Thalia asked him. "What is it?"

"We never finished our picnic!" Nico said with dismay.

The other two half-bloods laughed.

"Tell you what," Thalia said. "I'll treat for burgers. Sound good?"

"Yeah!" Percy and Nico agreed.

"Well," said Sally, "Now that you have that worked out, I'll go call Annabeth."

"Annabeth! We can't finish our picnic without Annabeth!" Percy cried.

Sally paused. "Why doesn't one of you go get her and bring her back?"

"I'll go." All three said at once. They all looked at each other.

Just then Nico got a mischievous look in his eye. He grinned. "Hey guys…"

"What?" Percy asked.

"Race you!"

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><p><strong>The end! Kind of short I know, but hopefully you liked it. Virtual blue chocolate-chip cookies to those who review andor favorite! Thanks for reading!**


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